Redditch

So is Redditch the worst town in the whole world? Conversation in the ticket office - Me: "Single to Five Ways please." Booking clerk: "Single? Not return?" Me: "Are you kidding me?" Apparently most of the tattoo needles used in the world are made in Redditch and, judging by the art on display under rolled up sleeves and summer dresses quite a lot of them stay there. However good the needles are, the work done with them ranges from brilliant to bleurrgh. There are two pieces of art about needle making in the town centre

 and a mural composed of tattoo imagery, of a rather traditional kind.

Redditch also made Royal Enfield motorbikes but there is hardly any trace of this industry now and I could only find the Wetherspoons pub called the Royal Enfield. Other than that there's not much to tell. Redditch was designated a new town in 1964 and Gues Keen and Nettlefold, or GKN, have their HQ in Redditch. Redditch Co-operative Homes is one of the main social landlords in Redditch and, if I ever go back, I will try to get their story.